Last week it was announced that the Business Honors Program received a $1 million pledge grant from BHP alumnus and El Paso native, Woody Hunt’s family foundation. Hunt, who graduated from the Business Honors Program in 1966, has put forth a challenge to alumni and friends of the program to raise an additional $2 million over the next five years. A portion of his gift will go towards scholarships for students from the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juarez area and the remainder will be allocated to a BHP Excellence Fund to be used for faculty, student and programmatic support.
Hunt was in one of the first graduating classes and says that the program has come a long way in terms of both quality and quantity. “The Business Honors Program is certainly a significant asset for The University of Texas, the business school, and for the state of Texas,” he said. “I have always connected my success partially to the quality of the education I got in the Business Honors Program.”
In order to receive the gift in its entirety, the McCombs School must raise $2 million over the next five years. It is Hunt’s hope that the challenge he has created will incentivize alumni to give and will put more dollars in place to have a lasting impact on the program. “I think it is appropriate, particularly given changes to funding for higher education, to ask alumni who have reaped the rewards of going through such a high-quality program and have the capacity to give to help,” said Hunt. “UT Austin is becoming more state-assisted, and less state-supported, so I think the time is certainly right.”
Hunt met his wife Gayle, with whom he established the Hunt Family Foundation in 1987, while attending UT Austin. In 2008, the couple was recognized by the West Texas-Southern New Mexico Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as “Philanthropists of the Year,” for their continued support of the El Paso community.
Hunt is Chairman and CEO of Hunt Companies, Inc., an industry-leading real estate company, and its affiliate companies. Together, Hunt and its affiliates have more than $13 billion in assets under management. He was previously Vice-Chairman of The University of Texas System Board of Regents and served seven years, three as Chairman, on the Board of Directors of The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO). He has also served on numerous boards over the years, mainly focused on health care and higher education.